In all its glory:Black pastor arrested for helping his neighbor: ‘Watering roses ain’t no crime’ https://t.co/JKWFVa56vs
— Raw Story (@RawStory) May 24, 2022
“My neighbor goes out of town a lot and they wanted me to watch their house and keep their flowers watered,” Jennings said.The Childersburg man said he explained who he was and what he was doing, but Jennings said he wasn't carrying any identification at the time.“He said, ‘Give me some ID’, [and] I said ‘No, I don’t have to give no ID because there ain’t no crime been committed,' I said, 'but what I will do is I’ll tell you I am Pastor Jennings, and I live right across the street right there, and I said, 'you can go ask my wife,'" Jennings said.He continued watering the plants, but he said tensions escalated when a third officer, identified as a sergeant, arrived at the scene.“He got out of the car, he’s already fired up," Jennings said. "I’m telling them, ‘You’re making a mistake, this is wrong, what y’all are doing,’” Jennings said.That apparently angered the sergeant, who ordered him to remain quiet."'Shut up and listen, you talk too much,’" the sergeant said, according to Jennings. "I said, ‘You don’t tell me to shut up, boy, I’m a grown man.'"‘You going to jail, that’s it," the sergeant said, according to Jennings. "Lock him up.’”The neighbor who reported Jennings told police that she had made a mistake and begged them not to arrest him, after recognizing him as a friend and neighbor, but the pastor was still charged with obstructing governmental operations and booked into the Talladega County jail.“Last I checked," said Jennings, who has since ben released, "watering roses ain’t no crime."
He wasn't arrested for trespass, or for watering roses. He was arrested for talking back to police officers, and for not carrying ID.
Lock him....up?
Last week the minister at our new church told a similar story, but in her case it was walking her dog. There has been an altercation of some kind between someone walking their dog, and another pedestrian. The pedestrian called the police and gave a description of a woman walking her dog. Our minister was out walking her dog when the police came by and decided she fit the description. She pointed out that she was the minister of the church in town, but that didn't make any difference, she was arrested. Interesting fact, she was on crutches from a knee surgery the week before. The pedestrian's description had no mention of crutches (that would seem a really obvious part of a description of someone you don't know). Didn't matter, she was arrested. What is obvious, is that our minister is gay. Hair cut very short, wears clothing more typically associated with a man. By her description, the bails bondsman was more than a bit flustered when he figured out she was the minister of the local church. Needless to say she was zero flight risk. She had to hire a lawyer and ended up borrowing against her house and spending $10,000 to be sure that she was cleared of an obviously errant arrest. She told this story in the context of a drive to raise funds for a NH organization that is working to bail out non-violent offenders. The incarceration rate in NH is very high, especially among people of color (who make up an extremely small percentage of the state population). I can't help thinking about these two minister's stories and yesterday's Supreme Court decision. What the system is delivering isn't even close to justice and those in power are actively working to make it worse.
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